The present invention relates to a central processing unit for control of an aircraft system provided on board an aircraft, a control network for control of the aircraft system, an aircraft comprising such a control network, a corresponding method for control of the aircraft system and a computer program for carrying out the method.
Automation and control of aircraft systems, like aircraft ventilation systems, aircraft cooling systems or any other aircraft system that is suitable to be controlled via central processing units, control networks and common remote data concentrators, are generally performed by use of software (S/W) programmable controllers. In case of aircraft ventilation systems, today's solutions for automation and control are based on dedicated centrally located controllers, which are specifically developed for the system to be controlled. In other words, such centrally located controllers are specifically developed for controlling only a specific type of components, e.g., a specific type of sensors and/or actuators. That is, in case of aircraft ventilation systems, such centrally located controllers are specifically developed for controlling only ventilation system components of the installed aircraft ventilation system rather than system components of other aircraft systems.
In other words, these controllers fulfill all individual requirements for automation and control of the specific ventilation system installed on the aircraft and its electric and electronic components and are only foreseen and suitable to be used within one dedicated aircraft program. This is also true for controllers of many other aircraft systems, so that a lot of different system specific and individually developed controllers are typically used on one aircraft type. Hence, airlines typically need to keep a big number of different controllers that are used on a specific aircraft in their spare parts stores.
Due to existing safety and reliability requirements, automation and control of aircraft systems like aircraft ventilation systems needs to be set up redundantly so that many different important and safety-critical functions can always be guaranteed in case of one failed controller entity. For this reason, controllers used for controlling aircraft systems, for instance, aircraft ventilation system controllers for control of aircraft ventilation systems, are presently developed as dual-lane controllers. Dual-lane controllers host two independent and redundant controller lanes, e.g., a dual-lane controller typically has two independent processors and memories for performing independent control operations. The two independent control lanes can communicate with each other. That is, for example, the processor of the first control lane can not only read out instructions, commands and data stored in a specific area of the first control lane's memory, but also of the memory in the second control lane and vice versa. Such dual-lane controllers are typically connected to central process computers by Controller Area Network (CAN) busses.
Each dual-lane controller is typically not only connected to central process computers but also to multiple system components which are to be controlled. Electrical connections between the dual-lane controllers and the system components (e.g., electric system components) must often bridge long distances within the aircraft fuselage depending on the components' specific locations. The decision which of the lanes of the dual-lane controllers is used for the control of the system components to which the dual-lane controller is connected is generally performed by the dual-lane controller itself, e.g., the two lanes of the dual-lane controllers typically communicate with each other to decide which lane should be responsible for control the system component(s) at a certain point of time.
Recently, generic, single-lane and S/W configurable data concentrators, so called Common Remote Data Concentrators (CRDCs), have been developed. These generic, single-lane data concentrators can be connected via an Avionics Full DupleX (AFDX™) switched Ethernet network connection or other network connections to a common avionics data communication network for communication with further computers and data concentrators. The CRDCs can not only be used for monitoring and controlling specific aircraft system components, e.g., ventilation system components, but can adaptively be configured for monitoring and controlling system components of other aircraft systems.
In WO 2012/038265 A1 a remote data concentrator (RDC) for an avionics network has been proposed. The RDC comprises an input/output interface (I/O) for connection to one or more input/output devices, and a network interface for connection to a remote processor. The RDC is operable to provide communication between the input/output device(s) and the remote processor, and the RDC comprises a set of instructions for autonomously driving an output device connected to the I/O.